Airbus Pulls Lithium-Ion Battery Out Of Its A350

A tail of an Airbus long-haul A350 XWB under construction at the European aircraft maker's assembly line in France.

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Boeing's European rival Airbus announced a significant change to its A350-XWB airliner on Friday: It is abandoning plans to use a lithium-ion battery, the same kind that has caused Boeing so much trouble with its 787 Dreamliner.

The A350 is Airbus' version of the Dreamliner — a lighter, more fuel efficient plane made primarily out of a carbon fiber instead of aluminum and steel.

"Airbus said it started informing airline customers on Thursday that it would not move ahead with an original plan to use the lightweight lithium-ion batteries to power a number of the A350's onboard systems, and would revert instead to a conventional battery, made of nickel-cadmium, that is already used extensively on existing Airbus models.

"'Airbus considers this to be the most appropriate way forward in the interest of program execution and reliability,' said Marcella Muratore, an Airbus spokeswoman."

Reuters reports that Airbus' decision is fueled by industry fear that "failure to identify the "root cause" of the burning battery incidents leaves too much uncertainty over whether regulators will certify planes as safe when relying on the powerful but temperamental power packs."